The invention relates to a rail vehicle with a self-supporting car body with a floor and a roof and with side walls, which have windows and entry zones, the structural car-body elements situated above the floor being formed by a frame that is connected in a flexurally rigid manner to the floor and has side wall or roof elements or the like mounted on it, the car-body skin elements being of load-bearing design and, to form a ribbed plate-type supporting structure, being attached to frame elements in such a way as to participate in a defined manner in the load-bearing function, and the car-body skin elements having an integral interlayer.
A rail vehicle of this kind is known from EP 0 474 510 A1. The car-body skin elements are filled on the inside with honeycomb metal structures. They allow these sandwich elements to perform a supporting action to meet the static requirements. However, EP 0 474 510 A1 does not give any indication of a simultaneous defined vibration damping construction of such rail vehicles.
A rail vehicle of this kind is known from DE 195 12 629 A1. Its side-wall elements are of rigid (nonvibration-damping) design and are attached to the framework in a nonload-bearing manner by an adhesive joint, the adhesive joint serving to damp vibrations that occur during the operation of the rail vehicle. The adhesive must have a sufficient layer thickness to perform the damping work planned for the absorption of the vibrations. At the same time, it is explained that an excessively thin layer of adhesive would not lead to damping but to rigidity of the structure, which would necessitate other measures to control the troublesome vibrations and would only be achievable with side wall elements that were designed in a corresponding way as load-bearing in terms of their strength.
The object on which the invention is based is to indicate a particularly lightweight rail vehicle with a self-supporting type of car body that not only meets the static requirements but furthermore offers the possibility of constructing the vehicle in such a way that vibrations are damped in a defined manner.
This object is achieved in conjunction with the features of the precharacterizing clause of claim 1 by virtue of the fact that the integral interlayer has defined vibration-damping properties.
The advantages that can be achieved with the invention are, in particular, that the frame elements of the rail vehicle designed in accordance with the invention can be made of lighter and smaller (slimmer) dimensions than in the known case. Since the car-body skin elements themselves are embodied as load-bearing components, they assume part of the supporting function of the framework. Overall, a reduced-weight and therefore economical car body is obtained. Of great importance here are the non-positive fixings between the car-body skin elements and the frame elements, which are embodied as adhesive or screwed or riveted joints. Troublesome vibrations (natural bending vibrations) that occur during the operation of the rail vehicle are damped to a sufficient degree by a correspondingly designed interlayer in the car-body skin elements, which are preferably embodied in the form of sandwich elements. A high degree of ride comfort over the entire frequency range excited is guaranteed.
Advantageous refinements of the invention are characterized in the subclaims.
Further advantages of the rail vehicle proposed will become apparent from the following description.